Few people can be expected to know more about the nature of JavaFX Mobile than Sun's VP of the Client Software Group Jeet Kaul, which is no doubt why Frank Sommers put questions on the subject to Kaul in an interview recently published in Artima. In brief, Kaul defined JavaFX Mobile as "a platform for creating rich Internet applications for mobile devices."

There are two key components in JavaFX Mobile, according to Kaul, which are a revision to the JavaFX SDK and the JavaFX runtime, which includes support by various partners for that runtime.

The JavaFX SDK can be used on both the desktop and in mobile applications. The SDK has a common set of APIs, Kaul said, adding that if developers write to that common API, they can test their application immediately in a mobile emulator that we just added to the SDK. We also extended the JavaFX platform to a [Java ME] mobile profile. The mobile profile has the APIs to allow a JavaFX developer to tap into Java ME directly and, through that, into specific device capabilities, if needed.

JavaFX allows you to tap into any of the capabilities of the Java ME stack, and get access to any device functionality ME provides, Kaul continued, allowing developers to create apps that have great UIs—text, animation, graphics, audio, video, and so on—but also have direct access to the ME stack. Any ME capability, such as access to Bluetooth, location data, access to a phone’s camera, is available to the JavaFX application. At the same time, JavaFX Mobile brings an entirely new set of capabilities to Java ME-based mobile devices, such as JavaFX Production Suite.

The JavaFX runtime can be deployed in two ways, Kaul explained: It can be embedded into a device via OEM partners, or it can be delivered over the air. The most important thing now for Sun is support and validation from industry partners, and two of the world’s largest OEMs, Sony-Ericsson and LG Electronics, are already providing support for JavaFX, and will be rolling out devices with the JavaFX runtime, according to Kaul. Discussions are also underway with Orange and Sprint.

Kaul said Sun addresses the issue of device fragmentation by delivering JavaFX only in binary format tailored in cooperation with OEMs to their particular devices. JavaFX Mobile also uses hardware acceleration that can degrade once hardware acceleration is not available, along with providing a programming model that, writing to a common set of APIs, developers know an application will run on the JavaFX runtime.

Kaul explained that developers have the means at both the API level and at the tooling level to ensure that their applications will adapt well to a wide variety of possible target devices. Using NetBeans can provide a useful means in developing JavaFX applications, he said, since it knows how to adapt to device profiles.

At the moment, Kaul noted, JavaFX 1.0 is targeted to developers. A later version will address the needs of interaction designers as well.

According to Kaul, the key is collaboration with the OEM and operator partners to deliver JavaFX Mobile applications to market.

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